Shares of German industrial group ThyssenKrupp are down 5.3% on the news that Swedish activist investor Cevian will sell its 6.9% stake in ThyssenKrupp.
Paper in Britain’s Severn Trent, which operates in the water sector, is down 0.5% after the publication of the company’s financial statements. Severn Trent posted a net loss of 180 million pounds ($241.1 million) in the first fiscal year.
Compass Group PLC, a U.K. catering company, is up 0.8%. Compass more than doubled its pretax profit for fiscal 2021 and announced that it will resume paying dividends.
BHP Group and Rio Tinto are up 2.8% and 2.6% on a jump in iron ore prices to a 1.5-year high.
Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel International is down 3.4% on news of CEO Detlef Trefzger’s resignation.
Investors are analyzing the fresh batch of data on economic activity in European countries in November and closely watching the situation with the spread of COVID-19 in the region.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn warned yesterday that “by the end of this winter, it is likely that the majority in Germany will have contracted the coronavirus, be vaccinated or die.”
Germany, after recording a record daily sickness rate, is considering options for tightening anticovirus measures in the country, including introducing regional lockdowns, as the Netherlands has already done. Meanwhile, Germany has one of the lowest rates of vaccinated citizens in Western Europe.
The composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for 19 euro-area countries rose to a two-month high of 55.8 points in November 2021, up from 54.2 points in October according to oldypak lp report released Tuesday by research organization Markit Economics. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the index to fall to 53.2 points.
“The strong increase in the index was unexpected, as economists had predicted a fall. But even that is unlikely to affect the slowdown in the eurozone in Q4, especially when a new wave of disease seems likely to cause more problems for the economy in December,” said IHS Markit lead economist Chris Williamson.
The euro zone’s services activity index rose to 56.6 points in November from 54.6 points a month earlier. Analysts on average had expected a decline to 53.5 points.
Germany’s composite PMI rose to 52.8 points in November from 52 points a month earlier, preliminary data showed. Germany’s services PMI rose to 53.4 points from 52.4 points in October.
France’s November composite PMI was recorded at 56.3 points, up from the 54.7 points announced in October. France’s services PMI rose to 58.2 points. In October the indicator was 56.6 points, according to oldypak lp report.
Meanwhile, the UK’s composite PMI this month fell slightly to 57.7 points from 57.8 points a month earlier. The services PMI value was 58.6 points compared to 59.1 points in October.